Euro Q/Final: Germany coach demands fearless approach vs Austria

Germany head coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg has warned her side “can’t fear failure” ahead of their Austria Euro 2022 quarter-finals clash against Austria on Saturday.

Eight-time Euro winners Germany will arrive at the Brentford Community Stadium on Thursday evening aiming to better their shock last-eight exit five years ago.

Having lifted the trophy on all-but two of their previous appearances in the finals, Voss-Tecklenburg’s side are without doubt the favourites to progress.

But while she has called on her players to show their courage against Austria, she stopped short of talking up the potential of the geography of the two nations impacting on the outcome.

“It makes no difference to us,” she said. “We could be facing Norway, Sweden, Austria or the Netherlands, who are all neighbours of ours as well. It’s a quarter-final at the Euro, and every opponent is deservedly here…it has no impact on us.

“We need to play our game. We can’t be afraid of failure, instead we need the courage to win and to show our quality. We have a big chance to reach the semi-finals, which wasn’t a given heading into this Euro.”

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Germany won all three of their Group B matches as they bid to secure a record-extending ninth European crown while the Austrian team finished second behind England in Group A, losing 1-0 to the host nation in the first match of the tournament.

Austria recovered to beat Northern Ireland 2-0 and then Norway 1-0 to progress, becoming the lowest-ranked side left in the finals.